Refrigerator or cooler



Sept. l2, 1939. c. G. cARLsoN REFRIGERATOR 0R cooLEn Filed Feb. 17, 1938ulluuhxf N f Patented Sept. l2, 1939 A.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE '2,172,671 miiiinGlinA'ron on COOLER Carl G.Carlson, Chicago, Ill.

Application February 17, 1938, Serial No. 190,901

l Claims. (Cl. 62-116) My invention belongs to that general class ofView of a portion of the lower compartment illusdevices known asrefrigerators or coolers, and is trated in Fig. A1, corresponding withthe lower left directed more particularly to an improvement in handcorner of Fig. 1; and

the type of refrigerator generally used in domes- Fig. 3 is a sectionalview taken` substantially tic service. on line 3--3 of Fig. 2. 5

The invention has among its objects the pro- Referring to the drawing,in which only one duction of a refrigerator in which I utilize whatembodiment of my invention is shown, l desigis waste spaceA in certaintypes of refrigerators nates generally a domestic type of refrigeratornow on the market. A certain lamount of usable having an upper chamberor compartment 2 for l0 space is wasted because it is not fully utilizedin the storage of food or other commodities, and a 10 refrigerators withan upper cooling compartment door 3 for closing and sealing thecompartment. and with a separate lower compartment ontain- At the lowerportion or bottom of the refrigerator ing the refrigerating equipment orunit provided( is a compartment 4 entirely separate and insuforsupplying the cooling medium to the cooling `lated from the uppercompartmentabove and coil or unit in the food cooling chamber. ThereWhich may be closed by a door 5 hinged either at l5 are types ofrefrigerators in which there is a the bottom or at the side so it may beOpened to comparatively large food cooling compartment display theinterior- Any suitable type of evapat the top or upper portion of therefrigerator orator or cooling coil 6 is arranged in the comhavingv itsown cooling coil and separate door, and partment 2, this Ordinarilybeing arranged in the a further uncooled chamber or compartment beupperportion and v,the Compartment provided low the main compartment in whichis arranged with suitable shelves (not shown) for carrying 20 the unitfor supplying the cooling medium to the the food products to be chilledor cooled. Within 'said evaporator or cooling coil in the compartthelower compartment 4 iS arranged the refrigerment above. In mostinstances the equipment ating unit for supplying the Cooling Inedium'toin the lower compartment fills only a small porthe evaporator Coil, theunit aS 'a Whole being 25 o tion at the rear of the compartment and Ipropose generally designated by the numeral l. and aS to utilize theexcess space in this compartment Shown in the drawing, consisting 0f theCompresfor auxiliary `cooling purposes, the same consti- Sor 3, motor 9,Condenser lll, receiving tank ll, tuting convenient cooling chambers forarticles receiving valve l2, and the necessary Piping l5 such as bottledgoods, for instance, milk and bevand I6 oonneoting the Compressor andreeiving 30 erages, or for eggs or butter, etc., which are not valveWith the evaporator 5 in the upper Coniex'posed when the door to theupper food compartlnent- Generally Speaking, this is a custompertinent,`is opened and which may be readily ary refrigerator type, it beingimmaterial whether and conveniently removed without opening `the theevaporator 5 0r Cooling Coil iS Provided With upper door and exposingthe eontehts thereof, cooling fluid from an electric, gas or other cir-35 V rIlhe invention has among its general objects the oulating unit,nor does it matter What particular production ofarefrigerator of thekind described type of evaporator Coil iS uSed- AS a general which issimple, convenient, eflicient, and'which Practice in a domestiorefrigerator of this type may be equipped with my improved auxiliary itis customary to keep milk bottles or beverage 40 cooler at avery slightexpense. h bottles on the shelves and not use or cool the 40 Many otherobjects and advantages of the @0nv lower compartment. Bottles vary inheight and struction herein shown and described will-be ob- Size, andsometimes must be laid down flat on viouel to those skilled in the artfrom the. disa shelf in Order t0 t in the box. If they are closureherein given, placed at the back on a shelf, it is 'necessary to T0 thisend my invention consistsin the novel removefood in front beforeremoving" the bottles construction, arrangement and combination of orPackages, While if they are Placed in front, it parts herein shown anddescribed, and more paris necessary t'o remove them to reach articles inticularly pointed out in the oiaims. back, and generally speaking, thearrangement In the drawing-wherein like reference charac; iSnCOnVeIliBIlt, and in lifting milk bOttl'e'S, fOl' ters indicate like orcorresponding parts:Y example, back and forth, they are Often'upset. 50

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a refrigerator 4show- I propose toutilize, the front Portion 0f the ing certain portions in dotted linesand the side lower Compartment 4 Whioh` is otherwise Waste wall ofthelower portion broken away to show the space asan auxiliary coolingspace, and provide interior; y 4 a coil extending transversely acrossthe compart- Fig. 2 is substantially an enlarged sectional ment fromside to side and forming, as it were, 5i,

the partition between the front portion and the rear portion of thecompartment at the bottom of the refrigerator. I also provide on thedoor 5 of the lower compartment a container for milk bottles, beveragebottles, packaged butter, eggs or the like, which are readily accessibleand removable by merely opening the door a slight distance without inany way opening or exposing the top compartment, which is the normalfood compartment, to warm room air. In the drawing I have illustratedthe door 5 hinged or pivotally supported at the bottom, so that it maybe tilted outwardly a short distance. It is, of course, immaterialwhether the door 5 is hinged at the bottom or the side. Within thislower compartment is arranged an evaporator or cooling coil I9 which ispreferably of a ilat type and of a length to extend substantially acrossthe compartment from side to side and the desired depth from the top.This coil .is shown connected by the piping and 2| to the compressor andreceiving tank, respectively, or to the piping I5 and I6, the sameconstituting an auxiliary or supplemental cooling coil which may beoper,- ated rfrom theunit supplying the cooling iluid to the evaporatori without, to any appreciable extent, affecting the eiliciencyof theevaporator i .or overlapping the unit 1. This coil is shown supported bybrackets 22 from the top wall 23 oi the lower compartment. I have notconsidered it necessary to illustrate the coil I9 in detail, since thenarrow or iln type of evaporator coil may be employed, suitable meanswell known in the art being provided for regulating the flow of xcooling fluid to or from the coil.

AAs shown, a wall of insulating material 25 extends adjacent theevaporator coil but slightly spaced therefrom at the rear side thereofand this wall may, if desired, extend down to the bottom. Asillustrated, hoyever, it extends part way and only to slightly below thecoil,. there being a cooperating wall 3| of insulating material mountedon the door. As shown, mounted on the door is a receptacle consisting ofa bottom 28 which is insulated, side walls 29 and a rear wall 30 whichcarries the insulation 3|. A basket or wire type container may beemployed if desired. When the door 5 is closed the rear wall ofthereceptacle forms a continuation of Ithe evaporator insulated wall at therear of the coil. It will be noted by referring to Fig. 2 that when thedoor 5 is closed, the coil I9 substantially forms a rear wall for thecontainer but is carried by the Itop23 of the compartment and stationaryrather than movable with the door 5. When the door is closed, chilledair may descend from the coil lI9 to the lower part of the receptacleand thence travel upwardly irom the bottom of the receptacle to the top,whence it circulates over the coil and again descends to the bottom,etc. chilling or cooling the contents of the receptacle. It is-.customary to provide a control for the cooling pi' the uppercompartment, as for example, a float (not shown) in the evaporator coil6 which controls the discharge of liquid back to thereceiver tank, aswell as thermostatically controlled means that will shut off the powerto the unit in the lower compartment when the upper compartment reachesa predetermined low level and start the unit operation when thetemperature increases. Generally it is not necessary to provide acontrol for the auxiliary .compartment below, but such may be employedif desired, but rather than controlling operation of the compressor,etc., it is preferred to provide some means the door, provides anauxiliary cooling space forv certain' articles without in anywayinterfering with the installation, operation or control of therefrigerating unit in the rear part of the lower compartment oroperation of the evaporator coil 6. The space is so small between thedoor and the evaporator or cooling coil that the unit ordinarilyemployed for cooling the upper compartment is suircient to take on the`extra load ofv cooling the lower space. Brackets or shelf 40 forcarrying a -pan 4I during defrosting maysbe provided. The convenienceand utility of this improvement is readily obvious. Access may be had tothe main compartment 'fr to` auxiliary compartment without exposing theother one.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that variousimmaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing fromthe spirit of my invention; hence I do not wish to beA understood aslimiting myself to the exact form, construction, arrangement andcombination of parts herein'shown and described, or uses mentioned.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by l Letters Patent is:

1. In a` refrigerator of the kind described, having a plurality ofassociated compartments each having a door for access to thecompartment, a refrigerating unit including an evaporator coil arrangedin each compartment and a compressor, condenser, 'receiver andassociated parts arranged in one of the compartments, the evaporator insaid last mentioned compartment extending transversely across thecompartment proximate the door thereto but spaced inwardly from thedoor, partition means separating said last mentioned evaporator 'fromthe remainder of the cooling mechanism to form a second coolingcompartment, and a receptacle mounted`on said door of a size toextend`between the door and evaporator but having the inner side wallcut away at the evaporator, whereby the evaporator substantiallyconstitutes a rear wall for the receptacle.

2. The combination in a refrigerator having two associated compartmentsof a refrigerating unit arranged in one compartment of the refrigeratorand including a cooling coil in each compartment, a door for eachcompartment, the door of the compartment containing said unit providedwith an inner. wall spaced from the body of the door and constituting areceptacle, the cooling coil in said compartment extending transverselyacross the compartment proximate the door but spaced back therefromsubstan ly in the plane of the said spaced inner wall a d constitutingan extended wall of the receptacle when the door is closed.

3. In a refrigerator of the kind described having a plurality ofassociated compartments and in combination, a refrigerating unit havinga' compressor, driving means therefor, receiving tank and condenserarranged in one compartment, and including a cooling coil arranged ineach compartment, a vdoor for each compartment,

the door of the compartment containing said unit having a receptaclemounted on the inner side.' the evaporator coil in said compartmentextending' transversely across ,the compartment proximate the door butspaced back therefrom a distance substantially equal to the thickness ofthe receptacle and mounted with its front face substantially in theplane of the wall of the receptacle, and insulating means interposedbetween the evaporator coil and receptacle and the refrigerating unit.

4. In a refrigerator of the kind described having two associatedcompartments arranged one above the other and in combination, arefrigerating unit including a cooling coil in' each compartment and acompressor, driving means for the compressor, a condenser, receivingtank and associated Vparts arranged in the lower compartm'ent at therear thereof, a door for each compartment, the door of the lowercompartment having a receptacle mounted at the inner side thereof,`thecooling coil in said lower compartment depending from the top wallthereof .and

extending transversely across tthe compartment and -substantiallyconstituting a side therefor when the door is closed, and insulationinterposed between said receptacle and said compressor and associatedparts in the compartment.

5. A refrigerator of the kind described having upper and lowercompartments, a -cooling coil arranged in each compartment, a door foreach compartment arranged one -above the other, a cooling coil in thelower compartment spaced back from the door thereof and extendingtransversely across the compartment substantially from side to side, anda wall of insulating material positioned in the compartment at the rearof said cooling coil and extending between the top and bottom and sidewalls of the compartments to provide a cooling chamber, said rear wallhaving a recessed portion therein, the respective cooling coil beingpositioned therein with the outer face of the coil substantially flushwith the remainder of the wall.

6. A refrigerator of the kind described having separate upper and lowercompartments insulated from each other, a separate cooling coil arrangedin each compartment, means for connecting said coils to a common sourceof vcooling iluid, a separate door for each compartment arranged oneabove the other, the cooling coil in the lower compartment spaced backfrom the door thereof and extending transversely across the compartment,and a wall of insulating material positioned in the compartment at therear of said cooling coil and extending between the top and bottom andside walls of the compartments to provide an auxiliary cooling chamber,the lower portion of said wall being removable and the upper portion ofsaid wall having a coil receiving recess therein to position therespective cooling coil substantially in the plane of the removablelower portion, and means on the inner face of the said lower door forcarrying articles to be cooled.

7. The combination in a refrigerator having two associated but separateindependent compartments, of a refrigerating unit arranged in onecompartment of the refrigerator and including a cooling coil in eachcompartment connected to a common source of cooling fluid, anindependent door for each compartment, the door of the compartmentcontaining said unit provided with an inner wall spaced back and carriedfrom the body of the door at the inner side thereof and constituting areceptacle, the cooling coil in said last mentioned compartmentextending transversely across the compartment proximate the door butspaced back therefrom and lying substantially in the plane of the saidspaced receptacle inner wall and constituting an extended wall of thereceptacle when the door is closed.

CARL G. CARLSON.

